What a cool race and amazing place to ride.  I love when the group thins out and it becomes so quiet.  The Uinta’s is a very pretty place and to be traveling it on a bike… even better.  It was our 7th year anniversary so we went to Park City for the day and spent the night at Westgate.  Very nice and good times to hang with my best friend.  The sad part was I started feeling a little stomach cramps and sickness after lunch.  Then I was hoping dinner would help but just made it worse.  Some kind of stomach flu or food poisoning.  Leaning towards the latter.  Either way not good.  In the morning I still so wanted to go and was really hoping that things were past and it would only get better.  Sad part was I had no nutrition in me and didn’t feel much like putting any more in.  So the race started and strength wise I was feeling pretty good.  Stayed with the group past were my goal was to do so but then started to wane.  I held and went back and forth with another guy whose wife and 4 kids were cheering him on.  ”Go Dad!” they yelled as they drove by then would pull off and cheer as he went by.  I thought of my wife and kids and smiled.  We traded off pulling and was feeling steady.  When the grade started going up I started falling off and my stomach was getting more and more bloated.  I was not feeling well and slowed way down.  As I passed the turn off for Trial Lake I saw a neighbor of mine pulling out and I waved.  He pulled around and along side of me to chat.  I told them I was not feeling well and the said in return, man you don’t look good, you look really pale.  They asked if I wanted a ride and I declined thinking naa, I can do it, just slower.  I continued to climb then the pros started passing me.  I felt ok before as no one had passed me yet in my field or others, now as the pros were blasting by I realized I was not feeling well.  There was an aid station about 2 miles before the top, I stopped there and asked for some pepto or tums or something.  They had nothing.  I stayed there for about 10 mins doubled over wanting to just lay down.  With no help or anywhere to lay my head I jumped on the bike and headed to the top.  With about a mile to the top it started to rain.  I thought to my self, “oh joy”.  And at the top the wind was going and the rain was so cold.  There at the top were some race officials for the King of the Mountain times.  I was feeling like king of something but not the mountain.  I pulled over and said, “I’m done, where can I get a ride down?”  They laughed and ignored me.  So I reiterated. No really I’m done.  Where is the SAG vehicle.  Never have pulled out from a race before  I wasn’t quite sure what to do.  There was a guy there and said to jump in his truck.  He had some scouts there and was just coming down from a camp and wanted to see his buddy pass.  I graciously accepted.  I didn’t know how cold I was until I couldn’t get warm.  They were from Riverton and said they could take me down.  They threw my bike on their rack and we headed down.  I remember feeling so sick and said you may need to pull over.  He handed me a huge mountain dew cup and I took advantage of it.  I filled it pretty quickly and with one motion from cup to ground kept going as he pulled over.  During the race I was not able to put much of anything in me but water and some hammer gel and hoped that would sufice.  Nope, needed more but my stomach didn’t want it.  Now that that was all out I felt much better.  They dropped me off in Park City with Jenny and I was so glad.  Jenny brought me home and I slept for over 3 hours.  Today, the next day I feel much better.  Sad that it hit me on race day but you just never know.  I was really hoping to know how well I could do.  I have 4 more big races this year.  Let’s hope I do better.  A huge thanks to Mom and Dad for watching the girls, to the scout leaders who picked me up, Geoff for going to the race (and doing well I think), and Jenny for a great weekend (for the most part).

Picture from Evanstoncycling.org